Moscow Patriarchate Abandoning Thousands of Churches Where There aren’t Any Parishioners

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 1 – When Patriarch Kirill said in November that immediate action was needed to save more than four thousand churches now on the brink of ruin, many were hopeful the Moscow Patriarchate would finally do more to save them than it has up to now.  But in fact, the Patriarchate has abandoned many more churches because there aren’t any parishioners.

            Some of these are historically significant, commentator Zinaida Kurbatova says, while others are simply parish churches that once were the anchors of communities and somehow survived the depredations of Soviet times when so many churches were destroyed or turned into storage facilities or schools (vesti.ru/doc.html?id=3225712).

            She gives as an example of this Russian-wide phenomenon a village in Moscow oblast where an 18^th century Orthodox church by a distinguished architect is now falling into ruin, with only occasional services and little attention to saving it.  But it should be treated as something more than just one of the 4,000 Orthodox churches that have been discarded by the faith.

            “How do we want to promote national self-consciousness and strengthen the links of time in the minds of young people” if such things are occurring, the patriarch asked two months ago.  These old churches must be saved and because of current economic stringencies this must be done on a voluntary basis.

            In Kashin in Tver, the local college is situated in buildings where there was once a spiritual training academy. One of its instructors in higher mathematics is Archpriest Dmitry who is leading his students in seeking to save at least some of the 32 churches now in ruins in that oblast.

            His students understand, Father Dmitry says, that “work on these churches is an act of repentance for our people who destroyed them.” But the volunteers can only do so much. They can clean things up, but the buildings require repairs by those who are experts – and any such actions require the approval of multiple bureaucracies, often without the support of the Church.

            The list of 4,000 ruined churches Patriarch Kirill mentioned is only the tip of the iceberg. It includes only those that the bishoprics of the church have kept on their lists as active churches. Those they have lost or that have been taken from them are not on it – and their number is far larger.

            As ever more villages die and the number of parishioners dwindles to nothing, ever more churches will become empty shells and are likely to be abandoned, a sad commentary for those who hoped that with the overthrow of communism there could truly be a religious revival in Russia.